Recent reviews by Sean Bean

Add another game to the "Playing something shoved together in Unity"

Whilst smaller and fledgling studios will make a number of mistakes, paying ~£25 for a game with stock assets, dumb sprites (AI?) and periodic number changes is not my idea of a good time.

I appreciate what they are trying to achieve with this game, but for me it is nothing more than a portfolio building game as the developer(s) strive to become more and more proficient.

TLDR:
£5 quality game, sold for almost £25

What would make this game better (worth £25) ?

Basic Stuff

- Snapping item placement
- AI Sprites you can interact with
- Traffic

Enhanced Game play Stuff

- Customer orders to fulfil
- Building Promotions
- Browsing AI (they may buy more than one item per transaction)
- Stock Rotation
- More staff types

Advanced Game play Stuff

- Inventory management
- Stock level based ordering automation
- Bulk order discounts
- Shrinkage and loss prevention mechanics
- Competition


Yes, I have worked in high level retail management before - and I feel sad that I have written a review wishing a game was more like my career.

This was a very painful launch, the players know it, the devs know it, the journos know it.
Now things have become more stable it is easier to enjoy the game, though there is a way to go for optimisation and content.

Odyssey brings game play that can be quite fun and cathartic, although frustrating too. Progression through the new engineers is not kind on the player's time and can be quite frustrating.

FPS Combat is certainly not a refined experience like most established shooters, though can be fun larking about in the Combat Zones with a loose end.

Exploration is a little more deep now with Exobiology, with some cool modelling and visual moments, although can also be unkind on player time as you have to jump through a few rings to fully catalogue some planets.

Over all I would JUST about recommend odyssey, simply for the fact that the community that plays the game are top notch as well as impeccable sound and visual rendering. The activities are fun in bursts, though do lack any apparent long term objectives or goals - though it is a sandbox after all.

The base game/horizons are the strongest part of the franchise though, with the best credit earning potential well and truly in the core game.

This DLC will be a solid thumbs up if Frontier manage to pull of a 'Sean Murray' type turn around, though the hope is this will be achieved relatively soon as Elite really is an amazing experience to get lost in.

Eco is two games in one.

The single/duo or No Collaboration mode gives you the opportunity to slog it alone or with friends on a series of dedicated play sessions and can really unleash your inner creativity with deeper gameplay loops than other co-op building games.

The collaboration mode is where ECO comes alive - though can frustrate. On a server you are reliant on others investing a fair amount of playtime regularly and if this falls apart, so too will your experience of Eco. When you chose a server you have to figure out early on that balance of being useful (not too many people doing the jobs you want to do) and active enough so the experience doesn't become impossible.

The scenario can be completed on medium collaboration with about 6 players logging in for a few hours daily, though more casually you will want to rely on about 12 players.

All in all though, this game is fantastic for making friends and no two play throughs are ever the same. Strange Loop Game are invested heavily in this project and the potential is as appealing as the game in its current state. My only real gripe at the moment is the 2nd speciality feels like it takes a little bit too long to get on medium collaboration - however, you can rest assured that any balancing and improvements for ECO will be thoroughly thought through and worked on by SLG.

TL;DR

Worth every penny as full price, but try to learn the perfect balance of players for collaboration mode ASAP for the best experience.

Its good stuff, oh yeah

Good Game - I died to the rats a lot, and my desktop icons laughed at me - then patch 0.8.8 came, and I was unstoppable - Its a lovely friendly game but challenging and will keep you coming back for more.

Full Mojo Rampage is a seriously under rated game at the moment, As a fan of dungeon crawlers and playback value (Such as Binding of Isaac) this game is a great bag!